Posts tagged ‘lists’

On Saturday, Brian and I headed just west of downtown Bennington to attend the 14th Annual Southern Vermont Garlic and Herb Festival. Dorky as it may sound, I’d been looking forward to it for months. We had a great time and I definitely learned a lot of things I didn’t know before spending the day sampling delicious Vermont treats (garlic, maple syrup, salsas, dips, breads, sandwiches…it was pretty amazing).

1. The Garlic Festival is really popular

We drove to Vermont on the morning of the first day of the festival and it was pretty crowded. Of course, the fact that the majority of the vendors were distributing free samples didn’t help cut down on the crowds. According to the event’s website, over 6000 people attending the 2008 festival. That’s a lot of people for a two day event.

2. There are many different kinds of garlic

I know I’m not the only person who didn’t already know this because I was eavesdropping on other people, but it never occured to me before that there are all different types of garlic. It seems odd to me that supermarkets only seem to carry one kind (and sometimes elephant garlic) if all these local farms are growing so many varieties.

3. Garlic makes a great decoration

Brian and I opted not to purchase any garlic artwork to decorate our apartment, though I’m sure it would’ve smelled nice. I just wanted you to be aware that the option is out there.

4. There exists such a thing as maple liqueur

Along with several Vermont beer and wine vendors, Sapling Maple Liqueur had a booth with samples available. We couldn’t think of when another opportunity might arise to sample maple liqueur, so we got some. Pretty, isn’t it? Pretty strong is more like it. We had couple sips and then used the rest to top some vanilla ice cream (though they did have garlic ice cream too!)

5. There exists such a thing as garlic fudge

I expected that the Garlic Festival would have some bizarre garlic flavored foods and this is definitely my top pick. Of course, I had to try it. The sample was pretty microscopic, but it tasted fine to me. I suppose it helps that cherry can be a pretty strong flavor.

As regular readers are probably aware, I’m an avid reader of food websites and blogs. Google Reader is an amazing tool for receiving all my RSS feeds because on any given day, I can easily amass more then 200 more posts to read (not that I actually read all of them, but they come to me anyway). As a result, I’ve decided to share some of the most interesting posts, sites and discoveries with you.

If the list below makes you want to do more reading of your own, check out my blogroll (which I plan to update soon!) or “What I’m Reading” (which I update almost daily) on the blog’s right sidebar. There’s a lot of really great food blogs out there and you too may find yourself addicted.

Ree of the great blog, The Pioneer Woman, recently created a new website. Tasty Kitchen is “a happy little place on the web where people who love to cook can easily share recipes.” With thousands of members already, it’s definitely worth checking out next time you need a recipe (or if you want to submit one of your own!)

My Man is notorious for asking me hypothetical questions which make me crazy. They range from “If you had to move to another state forever, where would you move to?” to “If you had to live on a deserted island with a celebrity, who would you choose?” I don’t like being forced to choose one thing. I’m too indecisive. I like variety. I hate the “if you had to eat one thing for the rest of your life” question more than anything.

Despite that, I was intrigued when Serious Eats posted yesterday about the H1N1 quarantine in Hong Kong and asked what readers would put on their “Quarantine Food Wish List”. I’m pretty sure my list can include more than one thing, so I don’t feel so penned in by it. If my consulate was bringing food for me while I was in quarantine, I’d request black tea with sugar and milk, peaches, chicken picatta with spaghetti and a good bottle of pino grigio. Maybe not a meal that makes complete sense but…it sounds good to me.

And, immediately, I feel strange about choosing something with meat. Which brings me to my next point: No Meat Athlete (my favorite blog du jour) posted a great piece called “I Shouldn’t Be Eating This But…” It’s very much along the lines of what I was saying about summer restaurants opening the other day. It’s so refreshing to be reminded that my life’s not going to end because I choose to not be completely strict all the time. That’s why I’m flexitarian, and not full fledged vegetarian. (My guiltiest food is red meat, by the way)

If I’m in quarantine, I’m not going to worry about eating vegetarian. It’s not the rest of my life. Good food would make me feel better about being stuck while people recover from H1N1. I’m not going to make myself miserable sticking to a strict diet 100 percent of the time.

I love Google Reader. It’s an obsession and a disease, really. If you don’t use a reader, but you read blogs or news, you should get one. (Wow, this sounds like the professional development session I’m planning to do at my school next month!)

I have 105 subscriptions (some of which, of course, are never actually updated).

27 of those subscriptions are food related. Some of those are never updated, but some are updated a lot.

I sometimes make posts (like the one below) just because I want to share an article because I think it’s interesting, but I don’t necessarily have anything to add.

All that to say, I’ve added a new “widget” to the bottom of the column on the right of the blog called “Other’s Intriguing Articles”. It will list all the blog posts and news stories I want to share, without rambling comments from myself. It will probably be updated daily, so check back often. Of course, articles worthy of commentary will still get posts from me.

Well worth checking out if you’re a food blogger who needs a laugh…or if you know a food blogger and have been invited to eat dinner with them (#1, 8 and 9 from “Ten Things to Expect” are especially true for me).

My wonderful Man, in the interest of being creative and encouraging my interest in cooking, decided we should create a spaghetti bake with breaded chicken for dinner last evening. We’re getting married in 4 months (!!!!!) but we’ve definitely got our own ways of doing things, especially in the kitchen.